Introduction & Background

Saasu is a private company that was started nearly a decade ago by Marc Lehmann (Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, Advance Bank) and Grant Young (Info-onscreen, Telstra, WWF, eMedia). Since then they’ve taken on further investment but they remain privately held by a small number of shareholders.

Saasu only has full functionality in Australia at this time. Their international strategy is to release "functionally broad and shallow" offerings internationally that generally aren’t fully customised for taxation and payroll. Their are 50 countries thus far released as beta zones – these have some basic taxation information but probably not enough to rely on at this stage.

Pricing

The chart below details pricing plans, functionality between the different tiers is similar however file size varies and the corporate account has high volume API, Payroll and transaction allowances.

The user experience

If I had to use one description for Saasu’s UI it would be industrial. While other companies dive in and try and look like Web 2.0 consumer applications, the impression with Saasu is that it has come from the other angle in terms of aesthetics – it looks and feel like a high level enterprise application. That’s neither good nor bad – if anything I’d say that the look of Saasu might be a turn-off to the web/design community while manufacturers and the like will appreciate it’s robust feel.

Saasu has it all – of all the new players (ie those who don’t come with a long history of installed applications) Saasu has the highest level of functionality by a long shot.

The functionality

Given that Saasu has been going for such a long time, one would expect their offering to really cover the bases in terms of functionality. Saasu doesn’t disappoint – from Point of Sale to Inventory, from Payroll to relationship management – Saasu really does it all.

Saasu has two way bank integration, and backs this up with their banking integration guarantee which basically gives users free subscription extensions if their particular bank is not supported within a period of time. Two way bank integration means that, like other applications users can import their transactions into Saasu, ready to be coded and reconciled. Unlike other apps however Saasu customers can process payments within the application and output a file which can be uploaded to their bank for payment.

Saasu has built in payroll – other applications prefer to integrate with third party payroll vendors, or sell their own payroll solution as an "add on" however Saasu seems to have the perspective that most of its target businesses have employees, so payroll is a core function of an accounting application. Only Australia has complete payroll support while other jurisdictions have payroll but without specific employee tax functions.

As a sales tool Saasu covers all the bases. It allows for inventory and even goes as far as to allow for combination items (ie Item A is made up of 3 * widget 1, 2 * widget 2 and 1 * widget 3). It’s not a full ERP system and isn’t designed to be used for raw material stock control however.

The security issue

To say that Saasu take security seriously is something of an understatement. Their "basic" security page is a comprehensive document and they also have extra information about backups and data storage protocols. In terms of data extraction, Saasu say that;

Technically capable people can also program a custom extraction routine if they wish used our connectors and save the information in any form that suits you including multiple premises but that is entirely up to you. You just need to register as a technical developer with us first.

It’s great that Saasu provides for that functionality but personally, I’d prefer the ability to be able to extract my data via a one button click.

APIs – connecting the dots

Saasu is as thorough with its API as it is with security – their online documentation is extensive and there is a long list of vendors who have partnered with them. There are also a number of partner companies who provide an a-la carte service and can build custom API integrations with existing customer software. Saasu comes with a built in connector for Salesforce.com, allowing for full CRM/Accounting integration.

Saasu believes that business can leverage social media to their advantage – to this end Saasu integrates with LinkedIn, Facebook and Myspace.

Summary

If you’re a business that needs the full range of software tools, and are either in Australia or will be satisfied with partial regional support, Saasu could be for you. It owns a central position in the market place – while other payers focus on very small businesses, Saasu’s broad functional offerings should prove sufficient for businesses up to several hundred people.

Currently the international tax reports are being created and templates are being created for pay-items on payroll. The backend architecture has already been moved to a template model allowing for relatively quick and easy regional customisation – this will occur as demand dictates.

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Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

9 responses to “Saasu – Review”

JB – If Xero’s functionality is enough for you (ie you don’t need stock etc) then I’d say go for Xero given it’s auto bank feeds and more user friendly UI. If you need stock and more advanced functionality then Saasu

* _slightly_ more user friendly than Saasu, though after some use with Saasu I think Saasu is not bad at all
* the UI controls are also better (i.e. the grid)
* Workflow is better, i.e. it gives you hints after doing something, what next
* Xero has a better looking dashboard with charts

Saasu also has its benefits:
* Most forms are somewhat more detailed than Xero
* Item/inventory features
* Payroll feature (not every one will use it though)
* relatively more economical (see below)

I think Xero is more expensive. The basic edition is USD19/mo and limited to 5 invoices of each type.

Saasu starts at AUD25/mo which is USD 15.7/mo and provides unlimited transactions (subject to fair use). Xero’s unlimited transactions plan is USD29/mo which is about twice Saasu’s price.

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated (yet) with either company.

Hopefully this will change for the better, if Xero can provide better service to compete with Saasu, in the end users will benefit, affordable and better service for all 😀

In addition, Saasu offers a free plan 20 transactions limit/mo. That is approximately 10 receivable + payable invoices. Compared to Xero’s 5 each with $19/mo, Saasu’s free plan is more practical esp. for sellers.

As a Danish firm and a web devleoper, this is a hard choice. I believe after seraching the net, that Sassu has the benefits right now.
But Xero also has some nice features, and alot of features on the way.

I wanted a system with iphone integration and a user-friendly layout. My choice for now is Sassu.